Last minute tours from Natalie Tours. Tours from Natalie Tours. Advantages and disadvantages

What does this mean

The founders of Natalie Tours, Natalya and Vladimir Vorobyov, lost their last asset in the tourism business. On September 3, Rostourism listed three companies operating under this brand: Panorama Tour LLC, Travel Agency Natali LLC and Tour Operator Natali Tours LLC. The first two companies sent clients abroad, the latter was engaged in domestic tourism. The department made this decision because the tour operator had been unable to fulfill its obligations under the contracts for several months.

The financial problems of Natalie Tours became public at the end of June. First, the tour operator unilaterally canceled all tours with charter transportation, then - all programs until October.

Why did the departure of Natalie Tours from the market attract so much attention?

In recent years, Natalie Tours was no longer a major tour operator. Three legal entities that could send tourists abroad, in accordance with the law “On the Fundamentals of Tourism Activities in the Russian Federation,” informed Rostourism that in 2017 they served only 22.6 thousand clients, selling them tours worth 466 million rubles. For comparison: in 2013, the number of Natalie Tours clients, according to its own data, reached 950 thousand people, and its turnover exceeded $1 billion.

But even having sharply reduced its turnover in recent years, the company still remained one of the most popular travel brands. At the end of 2016, the Natalie Tours brand was known to almost 36% of all Russians living in large cities and traveling abroad at least once a year, according to RBC data from the research company Ipsos Comcon last September. Only Tez Tour, Coral Travel and Pegas Touristik had greater brand recognition.

The financial problems of a well-known tour operator this summer gave rise to questions about how healthy the domestic outbound tourism market is and whether the situation in 2014 will repeat itself, when large travel agencies went bankrupt one after another. Due to the depreciating ruble, rising jet fuel prices and the lack of attractive special offers from hotels, the season was difficult, with tour operators continuing to operate.

What is the reason for the financial problems of Natalie Tours?

“If your business can only exist in a growing market, then when the market falls and your turnover decreases, a cash gap occurs and you don’t know how to cover it,” Vorobyov four years ago in an interview with RBC reasons for the massive collapse of tour operators in the summer of 2014 .

“Natalie Tours” survived that difficult season relatively well, although Vorobiev admitted: “It doesn’t happen that someone is doing well and someone is doing poorly. Unfortunately, we are all interconnected.”

The next year, 2015, turned out to be fatal for the tour operator. That fall, due to obvious financial problems, the authorities suspended the activities of the Transaero airline, a key partner of Natalie Tours and many other tour operators. From court materials it follows that Natalie Tours’ debt to Transaero exceeded $5.8 million, while the carrier officially owed the tour operator only 777 thousand rubles. (approximately $11.6 thousand at the Central Bank exchange rate as of September 2015). In reality, Transaero's debt was significantly higher, but this could not be documented, and the collapse of the airline provoked a cash gap in Natalie Tours, sources close to the tour operator told RBC. Since 2016, the tour operator has sharply reduced its turnover; in 2017, the bankruptcy procedure of Natalie Tours LLC (now Novella Tours LLC) was launched, which was replaced by Panorama Tour LLC.

What do you remember about Natalie Tours?

In the previous decade, the tour operator was the undisputed leader in the Spanish direction. This was primarily due to cooperation with the Catalan Grup Serhs. In her report for 2007, she indicated that 68% of the total tourist flow to Spain passes through Natalie Tours.

But in the mid-2000s, Turkish tour operators entered the Spanish direction and, with their conveyor technologies, began to squeeze Natalie, which in 2008 parted ways with Grup Serhs and, having lured some of its employees, created its own host company. Vorobyov, however, insisted to the last that nothing threatened the position of Natalie Tours in Spain. “If on a destination suddenly, for some reason, the share of state employees who travel with string bags to cheap 2-3 star hotels increases, then it is clear that we are not very worried about this. We start to worry a lot when we are pushed out of 3+, 4 and 5 star hotels,” said the president of Natalie Tours in 2014.

Natalie Tours became the first tour operator to introduce financial guarantees for travel retail agencies. Industry legislation provides for a financial security mechanism only for tour operators, but Natalie, not wanting to answer to clients for the mistakes of its counterparties, demanded monetary guarantees from them back in 2006. However, the company later abandoned this practice, but other tour operators adopted it.

Natalie Tours also became famous for its loud provocative statements. In November 2015, when the Turkish military shot down a Russian fighter on the border with Syria, Natalie Tours, without waiting for the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Rostourism, announced that it was stopping sales of tours to Turkey, although the company did not actually work in this direction. And a week later, “Natalie” sent a letter to agencies, calling on them to stop cooperating with Turkish tour operators, who “have launched an unprecedented dumping war on the Russian tourism market and are currently selling tourist packages en masse at prices significantly lower than their average market value.”

What consequences will leaving have?

During September, Ingosstrakh will accept documents from clients of three legal entities Natalie Tours, which Rostourism excluded from the register at the beginning of the month. Most of the contracts were executed by Panorama Tour LLC, whose liability is insured for 50 million rubles. As of September 11, the insurer had already accepted more than 2.6 thousand applications in the interests of almost 6.4 thousand affected clients of Natalie Tours, the Association of Tour Operators of Russia reported.

In the summer, at meetings at the Federal Tourism Agency, Vorobiev stated that the tour operator needed 700-800 million rubles to restore its activities. That is, Ingosstrakh’s guarantees for all the injured Natalie Tours tourists will not be enough: clients will receive only part of the compensation they are entitled to. Thus, the law “On the Fundamentals of Tourism Activities in the Russian Federation,” seriously revised after the massive collapse of tour operators in 2014, will again not protect tourists.

Can the founders of Natalie Tours get back into the travel business?

The current version of the industry law prohibits those who have already held responsible positions (general director, deputy director, chief accountant, etc.) in companies excluded from the Unified Federal Register of Tour Operators from holding senior positions in tour operator companies.

At the time of exclusion from the register, Natalya and Vladimir Vorobyov were not the managers of either Panorama Tour LLC or Natali Travel Agency LLC, which were engaged in outbound tourism. But Rostourism also stopped the activities of Tour Operator Natalie Tours LLC, which was engaged only in domestic tourism. Its general director is Vorobiev. Thus, he will no longer be able to officially manage any tour operator company.

Tour operator Natalie Tours offers its clients a wide range of profitable travel offers in various destinations. By contacting the company for help, the client can not only purchase a trip to any destination he is interested in, but also issue or renew a foreign passport and obtain a visa. All that is required of him is to provide the necessary package of documents. Their transfer to the appropriate authorities and the registration procedure will be handled by Natalie Tours employees.

The Natalie Tours Moscow hotline operates around the clock. So if a client has problems, he can count on help at any time of the day or night.

Tour operator Natalie Tours Moscow tour search

Searching for a tour from this operator can be done in two main ways: by calling Natalie Tours Moscow and arranging a meeting at the company’s office or directly on the company’s official website. In recent years, the latter option has become increasingly popular among potential consumers of tourism services.

So, let's start with the main thing: we will never fly with Natalie Tours again and we will save all our friends. This tour operator is the only thing that ruined our honeymoon trip 08/16/14-08/31/14 to Thailand (Pattaya), and completely. We took a 4* hotel, but luck. Upon arrival, the same 6 tourists, including us, were accommodated in a 3* hotel. We were a little upset, but decided to enjoy what we had. The rest of the tourists spent the whole day in negotiations with Natalie Tours on relocation to a hotel of the appropriate category. The next morning we came to a meeting with the guide Vadim and heard “in 15 minutes we are leaving for another hotel” - we were automatically moved with everyone else, without notifying us about it. To our question, “What would have happened if we hadn’t come now?”, Vadim logically answered, “But you came.” As a result, we lost exactly two days, spending them on suitcases. We (already all six tourists) turned to Vadim with a request to at least somehow apologize from the tour operator and compensate for 2 lost days. Vadim said that Natalie Tours are ready to give us a tour to the zoo worth 400 Baht in exchange for receipts that we have no claims against Natalie Tours. Quite suspicious, isn't it? No apologies/regrets were even verbally expressed. The company representative completely refused to give any contacts of his colleagues both in Thailand and in Moscow - “no one will do anything for you anyway.” Vadim’s tone and behavior horrified everyone - he used obscene words, was rude, and was insolent, waving his keychain with boxing gloves in front of us in a “bull” pose. When it became obvious to everyone that this was not only a violation of business etiquette and human treatment in general, but also smacked of lawlessness, we took out a camera. Vadim changed his tone and face even more: “I’ll break it for you now, put it away!” And then the curtain: “Russians don’t touch Russians in Thailand, but the Thais will do anything for my small fee.” Don't you think this is overkill? Realizing that there was no point in continuing the conversation with the representative of Natalie Tours in an intelligent shirt, we left to improve our vacation for the better. Of course, we did not sign any papers. This is where our communication with Vadim, thank God, ended. The holiday itself was good. On the eve of departure, on August 30, flight information should have appeared. But, of course, Natalie Tours is above this. Fortunately, we have the Internet and we found out when our flight was, but the question of transfer remained. Six poor tourists had already managed to unite and they had to call Vadim again. He responded with a standard refusal, saying that we need to call some Vera (wow, at least now he gave the contact of a colleague). It took three or more hours to reach Vera. Of course, Vera was completely out of the loop, and if it weren’t for our call, no one would have even picked us up from the hotel. In the end, we left safely. The End.

Spain

Now tour operator Natalie Tours covers almost any destination, any country and resort. However, the main emphasis was initially placed on tours to Spain. It was the organization of travel to this country that made the tour operator famous throughout Russia. Thus, in 1996, tours to Spain occupied approximately 50% of the tourism market. In addition, in 2009 the company offered an “Adults and Children” tour. Statistics show that in the summer of 2009 it was the most popular tour that was present on the market. “Adults and Children” tours to the following countries were also offered: Turkey, Greece and Cyprus. The game program for young travelers is based on a pirate theme, and for the youngest clients (up to 5 years old) games featuring the characters of the popular Russian animated series “Luntik” are offered.

Almost any tour to Spain or another country can be considered conceptual and individual: it is precisely these qualities and features that the company has become famous on the market.

Search for a tour from Natalie Tours

Today, many people search for a tour via the Internet. With the advent of the World Wide Web, searching for a tour has become much easier: there is no need to even leave the house, you can choose the best option while sitting comfortably in front of your computer. Regardless of which direction you decide to travel, rest assured that the travel agency Natalie Tour will definitely be able to find you the best option. Statistics show that the company serves up to 120,000 people annually, has numerous positive reviews, letters of gratitude and awards. An important advantage of a tour operator is the speed of work: Turkey, Egypt or another tour will be booked on a date and time convenient for you.

Hotels

Natalie Tour cooperates with the best hotels around the world. For example, the “Italy” tour offer is an opportunity to stay in one of the 500 prestigious hotels with which the company has been cooperating for many years. Every year the number of hotels with which the tour operator has partnerships is only growing. Currently, offices in Moscow and other cities offer a choice of hotels from economy class to luxury, thereby offering vacations for every taste and income. This means that tours to Egypt, Turkey, Spain and Italy will always offer vacationers the best living conditions, prompt selection of the right hotel and a high level of service.

There is a travel agency in almost every city in Russia. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, Natalie Tours has a number of representative offices where you can purchase tours on favorable terms. In addition, representatives of the tour operator are present in almost all cities. Thus, in case of an unforeseen situation, you can always receive qualified advice and assistance. It is enough to use the services of a travel agency once or visit the official website of Natalie Tours to understand that the rave reviews about the company fully correspond to the actual level of service and maintenance.